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'Bitcoins'Edit A digital currency created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms and is operated by decentralized authority, unlike government issued currencies. There are no physical Bitcoins, only balances associated with public and private keys. These balances are kept on a public ledger, along with all Bitcoin transactions, that is verified by a massive amount of computing power. For more details, click on the below link 'What is Bitcoin?' 'How Does Bitcoin work?' Bitcoin balances are kept using public and private "keys," which are long strings of numbers and letters linked through the mathematical encryption algorithm that was used to create them. The public key (comparable to a bank account number) serves as the address which is published to the world and to which others may send Bitcoin. The private key (comparable to an ATM PIN) is meant to be a guarded secret, and only used to authorize Bitcoin transmissions. The independent individuals and companies who own the governing computing power and participate in the network, also known as "miners," are motivated by mining rewards (the release of new Bitcoin) and transaction fees paid in Bitcoin. These miners can be thought of as the decentralized authority enforcing the credibility of the Bitcoin network. New Bitcoin is being released to the miners at a fixed, but periodically declining rate, such that the total supply of Bitcoin approaches 21 million. One bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places (100 millionth of one bitcoin), and this smallest unit is referred to as a Satoshi. If necessary, and if the participating miners accept the change, Bitcoin could eventually be made divisible to even more decimal places. 'Bitcoin - What's Trending ' New York proposes licence for Bitcoin trading 16th May' 14 New York State has become one of the first jurisdictions in the world to propose explicit licenses for companies wanting to carry out business in bitcoin. The proposal, known as the "BitLicence" would require businesses to keep records of the identities and real-world addresses of their customers, to actively keep an eye out for illegal activity, and to always have in its possession the amount of bitcoin that is owed to its customers. For some members of the bitcoin community, the proposals – available online in draft form – are what they've been waiting for, the first step in t New York Exchange urning the currency from an unregulated wild-west into a mature, respectable area of commerce. "As a New York City-based company, the BitLicence is an important asset that will allow us to provide US banking and regulatory protection to our target customer group," Jaron Lukasiewicz, CEO of bitcoin trading exchange Coinsetter, told Bitcoin news site Coindesk. "I’m happy to see the New York Department of Financial Services making tangible progress towards offering the first achievable regulatory bitcoin licence in the country." But others argue that the requirements are too restrictive, the areas covered by the license are too broad, and that the new rules would even have prevented the creation of bitcoin in the first place. Ryan Selkis, a bitcoin entrepreneur who gained fame as the source of the leaked documents revealing trouble at Mt Gox, argues that the license covers companies which have little to do with the financial industry. "The department overreaches by including under its purview many services that never actually access user funds," he writes. "These include wallets like Blockchain.info, tipping apps like Changetip, and mixing services like CoinJoin. The inclusion of non-hosted wallets is especially troubling as it essentially outlaws the personal possession of bitcoins for these users." Since licence holders need to monitor their users for illegal activities, Selkis argues, companies selling bitcoin wallets which they don't then host are in an impossible position: their product is illegal to sell without a license, but they have no way to monitor their users to fulfil the terms of the licence. The situation looks similar to a government requiring Diesel to comply with money-laundering legislation before they can sell purses. But Selkis reserves much of his ire for the requirement that any party "controlling, administering or issuing a virtual currency" requires a licences. "This provision would have outlawed Satoshi Nakamoto’s original bitcoin invention, and it certainly seems to ban any new alt-currencies and tokens that might be created in the future," he writes. The measures are currently only in draft form, and still liable to change – something Selkis hopes he can bring about by being "assertive and convincing in our arguments". Interested parties have 45 days to comment on the proposal, with the consultation beginning on Wednesday 23 July. (reference: theguardian.com) Dell jumps on the Bitcoin bandwagon The third largest PC seller in the world, with annual revenue of around $57bn, is the latest in a string of US retailers to begin accepting Bitcoin as payment online. In recent months businesses including Expedia and Overstock.com have started to accept Bitcoin, many of which have opted to use the payment processor start-up Coinbase. But Dell is by far the largest company to have made the move so far, potentially dragging the crypto-currency closer towards mainstream adoption. Dell employee Laura Thomas made the announcement in a blog post on the company website, saying that it was “excited to bring you the choice and flexibility this payment option offers”. The company’s website also lists some benefits of using crypto-currencies: “Bitcoin payments can be made easily from anywhere in the world, and offer reduced payment processing costs. “You have complete control over your bitcoin, so your bitcoin account isn’t tied to any financial institutions, can’t be frozen and carries lower transaction fees than most major credit cards,” it says. (Source: telegraph.co.uk) Latvia’s AirBaltic Now Accepts Bitcoin for Flight Bookings 18th July'14 Latvian airline airBaltic may be the first to accept payments in bitcoin, according to a Twitter post issued by the company. Although no formal press release was made, airBaltic’s website quietly began displaying the offering on 17th July. The company later acknowledged the decision when Twitter user Club Alpaca asked the company to confirm the news today. A company representative in Riga said that the bitcoin payment option is offered for basic class fares, excluding China, Indonesia, India, Iceland, Jordan, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Russia, Taiwan and Vietnam. Other travel services companies have also begun accepting bitcoin this year, although airBaltic may be the first airline. Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson’s UK-based air carrier Virgin Atlantic has not begun accepting bitcoin, his space flight venture Virgin Galactic has. Just two months later six or seven people were confirmed for a space flight, paid for with bitcoin. (Source: The Economic Times)